AKRON, Ohio - Ohio Brewing Co. is marking 20 years in business with a party Saturday.

The brewery - which started in Niles and has bounced through various locations, closed intermittently, and has come back - began operating in 1997, said owner Chris Verich. In March, it passed its one-year anniversary in its current location, in Akron's Highland Square neighborhood.

"I thought 'We've got to do something to celebrate,' " Verich said.

That something is the 20th anniversary bash, which starts at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, July 1. For $10, you get an order of ribs and a beer. The party ends when the brewpub runs out of ribs, he said.

Two seasonal beers will be featured during the celebration: Buckeye Blonde (a Belgian Wit at 5 percent alcohol) and Twice Bitten Ale (an Imperial Red at 8.5 percent). And there will be live entertainment during the celebration.

Ohio Brewing is at 804 W. Market St., at South Highland Avenue across from the Highland Square branch library.

The actual opening date was July 3, Verich said. Clevelanders were just five days away from seeing Larry Doby throw out the first pitch at the All-Star Game at Jacobs Field. J.K. Rowling would publish her first Harry Potter novel a week later.

The brewery's first two beers were Inaugural Ale, a light wheat-cream ale followed by a Kolsch.

When Ohio Brewing Co. started brewing beer, few craft breweries existed in Northeast Ohio. Great Lakes Brewing Co. - the state's first - was only nine years old. Thirsty Dog Brewing predated Ohio Brewing by almost four months, opening March 15, 1997, in Canton.

"Not many breweries in Ohio have seen 20 years," he said. "We've seen it all. We've been around in boom times, and want to give people an idea what's being going on with Ohio Brewing."